IN Brief:
- FY26 total home completions reached 17,667, five per cent above the aggregated FY25 figure.
- FY27 completion guidance has been reduced to 17,500–17,900 homes from 17,700–18,200 previously.
- The group now expects about 405 average sales outlets in FY27, down from an earlier assumption of around 415.
Barratt Redrow has reduced its home-completion guidance for the 2027 financial year as planning delays restrict the number of sales outlets it expects to bring into operation.
The housebuilder now anticipates total FY27 completions of between 17,500 and 17,900 homes, including around 600 joint-venture completions. Previous guidance stood at 17,700 to 18,200, while the forecast average number of sales outlets has been reduced to approximately 405 from around 415.
The revision follows a year in which output increased. Barratt Redrow completed 17,667 homes during the 52 weeks to 28 June 2026, five per cent above the aggregated FY25 total of 16,826 and towards the upper end of its guidance range.
Revenue increased 6.6 per cent to £6.055bn. Adjusted operating profit before purchase-price-allocation effects was £598.1m, up 0.6 per cent on the aggregated prior-year figure, while adjusted profit before tax on the same basis fell 7.1 per cent to £572.8m. Statutory profit before tax rose to £363.5m.
Planning has become the principal constraint in the FY27 volume outlook. Barratt Redrow’s net private weekly reservation rate between 29 June and 6 September was 0.62, compared with 0.55 for FY26, but stronger reservations cannot feed through into completions at the same rate if replacement sales outlets are delayed.
At 6 September, forward sales stood at 11,200 homes with a value of £3.338bn, compared with 10,593 homes worth £3.220bn at roughly the same point a year earlier. Of the current total, 7,121 homes had been exchanged or contracted.
For a volume housebuilder, the number of active outlets sets a practical limit on how many homes can move through reservation, construction and completion. Mature sites progressively run down, so the production pipeline depends on replacement developments securing consent, technical approvals and infrastructure before construction can start.
Delays at that stage also affect the contracting supply chain. Groundworks, roads, drainage, utilities, foundations and superstructure packages can all move later when a site fails to open on schedule, shifting labour and material demand even where the underlying development remains viable.
The enlarged Barratt Redrow group has continued integrating the former Barratt and Redrow businesses. It delivered £73m of cost synergies during FY26 and retained its £100m synergy target, while 12 revenue-synergy sites opened during the year.
Using Barratt Homes, David Wilson Homes and Redrow across the combined land portfolio provides additional options for product mix and site positioning. Those commercial options still depend on land progressing through planning conditions, technical approvals and infrastructure delivery quickly enough to create productive outlets.
Margins remained under pressure during FY26. Adjusted gross margin before purchase-price-allocation effects fell to 15.3 per cent from an aggregated 17.4 per cent, while adjusted operating margin moved to 9.9 per cent from 10.5 per cent.
That environment increases the importance of build-cost discipline once sites reach construction. Procurement, preliminaries, programme duration and subcontractor utilisation all become harder to manage when workload moves between projects because planning dates slip.
The group finished the year with net cash of £772.8m after dividends and share buybacks. Its balance sheet therefore provides capacity for land and construction investment, but the revised completion guidance shows that financial resources cannot compensate immediately for a slower flow of consented outlets.
The wider development pipeline remains highly sensitive to local planning decisions and the discharge of conditions. Land must move through consent, infrastructure design and site preparation before it becomes a working construction outlet, and delays at any one stage can suppress annual completion numbers even when reservations remain comparatively resilient.
Barratt Redrow enters FY27 with a larger forward-sales position than a year earlier but fewer expected outlets than previously planned. Its revised range of 17,500 to 17,900 completions therefore reflects the rate at which developments can be converted from planning pipelines into active construction sites.
